Families SA under fire: Mother told of toddler rape fears two years before carer arrested: lawyer

A South Australian mother whose child was allegedly raped while in state care raised concerns with Families SA in 2012, but was dismissed, according to her lawyer.

Peter Humphries said the woman had some access to her daughter, who was 18 months old at the time, and had noticed changes in her behaviour.

He said the mother raised suspicions her daughter was being sexually abused while in care, but was called "paranoid" by a Families SA social worker.

Mr Humphries said the woman was recently told the carer, who is at the centre of a Families SA child abuse scandal, had been charged with raping seven children, one of them her daughter.

"She was contacted by two representatives of Families SA who came to her house and told her what had happened and indicated to her that they should have taken her complaint seriously and apologised for not having done so," he said.

The state Child Development Minister Jennifer Rankine said she could not comment on the latest case as it was before the courts.

But she said measures were already being put in place to improve the monitoring and protection system.

"What we've done is increase inspections of our residential care facilities, we've engaged an independent firm of psychologists to go through all of the employment processes of the people that are currently working in our residential care," she said.

The mother's allegations about her treatment by Families SA have outraged the Opposition in South Australia.

Opposition Leader Steven Marshall said the latest revelations again highlighted the need for immediate changes to the child protection system.

"The thing that really worries me is that the Government is saying we're not going to improve the systems here in South Australia until after the [proposed] royal commission brings down its report," he said.

"That could be years down the track and we need action to protect our most vulnerable children right now, not in five years' time."

Indigenous children 'over-represented' in state care

The director of the Centre for Child Protection at the University of South Australia said the planned royal commission into child sex abuse issues needed to ensure it considered the fate of Aboriginal children.

Draft terms of reference propose consideration of the policies, procedures and structures of the state's child protection system.

Professor Fiona Arney urged there be special consideration of the needs of Indigenous families.

If we don't change the way things are working we'll just continue to see that increase in Aboriginal children presenting to our system.

Prof Fiona Arney

She said just 3.5 per cent of children in South Australia were from Indigenous backgrounds but they made up 30 per cent of those in state care.

"Because of their over-representation, because of the need for alternative approaches, if we don't change the way things are working we'll just continue to see that increase in Aboriginal children presenting to our system," she said.

Professor Arney said she had written to the Government urging the inquiry to remember the needs of Aboriginal children.

"I think the royal commission provides a great opportunity to say 'Let's have a stop now, let's think about what can be done differently, how can we transform our system to respond to families differently?'" she said.

Poverty concerns over child removals

Church-based welfare organisation Uniting Communities said the number of Indigenous children removed from their families in South Australia had reached crisis level.

Simon Schrapel of Uniting Communities said there were a number of factors behind the increase.

"The overwhelming issue is the abject poverty that many Aboriginal families continue to live in," he said.

"We know that, whilst there's not an absolute direct link between deprivation and child protection issues, in South Australia Aboriginal children are more than 11 times more likely to come into care and be removed from their families than non-Aboriginal families."

The plan for another royal commission follows a carer being charged with sexually assaulting young children who were wards of the state.

There was an earlier royal commission into how authorities in SA dealt with child sexual assault matters in Adelaide schools and an after-school carer was jailed.